How To Steal A Million
by thedreamygirl
Summary: AUHaley is the only child of a rich art collector, but what no one knows is that its made of fakes. When he is in danger of being found out Haley turns to Nathan, socialite and occasional burglar, and together they must steal a milliondollar sculpture
1. Prologue

**How to Steal A Million**

**Full Summary:** Based on the film 'How to Steal a Million'. Haley James is the only child of a rich art collector, but what no one knows is that his entire collection is made up of fakes. When Jimmy James is in danger of being found out Haley is forced to turn to Nathan Scott, a young socialite and occasional burglar, and together they must steal a million-dollar sculpture!

**A/N:** If any of you have seen 'How to Steal a Million' starring Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole then you already know where this story is going. If you haven't seen it, I suggest you do, because it's great (IMO). Certain things from the film have been changed, but a lot of the main bits are sort of the same.

**Prologue**

"Are you sure you don't want to come, sweetheart?" Jimmy James asked his daughter as he put on his bow tie.

"I have work tomorrow, Daddy. And even if I didn't, I still wouldn't come; you know I don't approve of this," Haley said crossly.

"Haley, darling, you need to stop worrying."

"Daddy, it's bad enough that you paint all these fake Van Gough's and Da Vinci's and sell them for thousands of dollars –"

"That's hundreds of thousands, Haley," he corrected his daughter.

"But to loan the Chellini Venus to the art museum? Someone is going to notice that it's a fake and then you could go to jail."

"You have nothing to fear, Haley. I may not be a great sculptor, but your grandfather mastered the art of sculpture, as I have mastered that of painting, and no one is going to know that his Venus, which your grandmother posed for, is not the real Chellini."

"Someone could test it-" Haley began to protest again, but her father would not hear her.

"In a crowd of over a hundred people, while it's protected by a high-tech security system? I don't think so. Now I am off to the grand unveiling of the Venus and you should be off to bed."

Jimmy James left for the museum, and Haley sighed as she made her way to her bedroom. She loved her father dearly, but she was always worrying about him. If anyone ever found out that his entire collection had actually been painted by him, including the ones he had sold, he would go bankrupt and sent to jail. And to top it off, he would be ruined in society, which would be the worst blow to Jimmy. Haley wished she could find a way that would make her father stop his schemes but, as yet, she couldn't see how.

……………

Nathan Scott said goodnight to his mother and hung up the phone. He was currently staying at the Plaza as his house was redecorated. He hadn't particularly minded its previous decoration, but his parents were having problems and Nathan found it was better to indulge most of his mother's whims. She had also wanted him to stay with her while his place was redecorated, but that was where Nathan drew the line.

He had just told Deb that he was going to the art museum for the unveiling of the Chellini Venus. However, in reality, Nathan was actually headed to the house of Jimmy James, the man who was in possession of the statue, and had loaned it to the museum. Nathan knew that the servants were out, and Mr. James and his daughter would be at the museum, so he would be able to pass through the house easily.

Nathan Scott was widely known in Tree Hill society, because of his father, Dan Scott. Or rather, because of his wealth. Nathan was twenty-four years old, and had never worked a day in his life. He had gone to college because he felt like it, and because it allowed him to get away from his father. Yet, ever since his graduation, almost a year ago, Nathan had fallen into the habit of…well, stealing things. Not just things; he had a penchant for stealing paintings. It was something he had tried once, in the summer before he left for college, because he had been bored and it seemed like it would be fun. The same boredom had come over him after his return from college, so he continued to do so, but only every so often, so no one noticed the pattern behind the thefts or could link them to him. His last theft had been over a month ago, and he was starting to get anxious. Tonight provided him with a golden opportunity, and who was he to pass it up?

Checking his watch, Nathan smiled lightly to himself and put his jacket on. It was time to get ready.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Haley tossed and turned in her bed, but she could not fall asleep. Try as she might, she could not shake off a sinking feeling in her stomach. The only deduction she could make was that something bad was going to happen at the art museum, and that worried her even more. Sighing, Haley switched on her bedside lamp and picked up her current book. Maybe if she read a few chapters she would grow tired and be able to fall asleep.

Soon Haley became engrossed by the novel, and had forgotten about her fears completely. They all came crashing back when she heard a thud downstairs. Haley clutched her book to her chest in fright, but she heard no other sound and tried to calm herself down, taking even breaths and deciding perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to read a Hitchcock novelization when she was alone in the house late at night. Haley put the book down, and started to pull the covers over her head, but was interrupted by a much louder, more distinct noise from downstairs. This time there was no mistaking it; someone was in her house.

Nathan Scott, the man in question, was currently hopping around on his left foot in the James' living room; not out of choice, but from the sheer agony that had erupted in his right ankle when it had collided with the settee. Stilling his movements, Nathan settled down in front on the picture he had chosen. Thankfully, the pain in his ankle was only temporary and although it still hurt him a little, he was able to set his right foot down. It wasn't nearly as bad as the pain he had from banging his forehead into a pillar a few moments before that.

Being careful not to touch anything other than the painting, Nathan placed his hands on either side of the fame. Slowly, but surely, he lifted it off the hook that kept it hanging on the wall. However, before he could make another movement the light switch turned on, illuminating the entire room.

Nathan turned around sharply, the painting still in his hands, covering his face, so that only his eyes were above the frame. Standing at the bottom of the main staircase was a young woman. She was wearing a black nightdress, and the sheer black robe she had loosely tied over it only accentuated her curvaceous figure. In fact, despite her bed head hair, Nathan would probably have thought her very attractive. If she wasn't currently pointing a gun in his face.

"What do you want?" Haley demanded. As soon as the words left her mouth she wondered why she said it; the painting in his hands was obviously the answer. Yet, she didn't know what else to say and as he was the intruder in her house she certainly wasn't going to apologize. Even though he had such piercing blue eyes.

"I was here for the painting," Nathan spoke slowly, "but I'll just put it back, and then I'll leave." He lowered the painting in his arms and faced the girl squarely, who was now on the floor with him. She looked about his age and was obviously Jimmy James' daughter, but Nathan couldn't remember having heard her first name.

Now that the painting wasn't covering his face Haley saw just how good-looking this stranger was. It was just her luck that she would end up getting robbed by a ruggedly handsome man, who kept staring straight into her eyes and didn't seem the slightest bit ashamed of what he had been caught doing. Haley took one of her hands off the pistol and placed it on the telephone next to her. "Don't move; I'm going to call the police."

"No-no-no, please don't do that!" Nathan said quickly.

'Did he just say "please"?' Haley thought.

"Look, I'm putting it back," He quickly did so and turned around to face her again, keeping his hands in the air. "There's no need to call them now, I'll just leave quietly." As he spoke he took a few steps forward, Haley got worried and put her other hand back on the gun, waving it in his face threateningly. Nathan stopped immediately. But then, he noticed something which caused him to smile. "You can't shoot me."

"What? What are you talking about? I know perfectly well to use a gun and I can certainly –" Haley stopped when she realized he was right. She wouldn't be able to shoot him. The safety catch was still on. Haley put her right index finger on the catch to try and unlock it, but this proved more difficult than she had anticipated. Haley then put her other index finger also on the catch, and after a few more moments struggle was finally successful. As soon as she had done this, she pointed it at the man again, who now looked a little worried.

"Please, Miss James, I mean you no harm; if you would just put the gun down I'll leave your house right now. And I'd really appreciate it if you didn't call the police."

However, Nathan had scared Haley by moving towards her again and as she moved back to keep the distance between them she collided with a stool behind her, which caused her to trip and accidentally set the gun off.

Nathan and Haley both yelled at the sound of the shot. Haley somehow managed to steady herself by putting a hand out on the pillar next to her. Nathan was not so lucky, as he felt the bullet slice through his suit jacket and shirt, and cut the skin on his upper right arm. He gripped the sideboard with his left hand, so he wouldn't fall down. Once he got over the shock, and felt he would be able to support himself, Nathan let go of the sideboard, and put his left hand inside his jacket to touch the wound. When he withdrew his hand there was a small puddle of blood in his palm. He looked up just in time to see the girl in front of him notice the blood, and faint.

Nathan let out a long breath before walking over to where her figure lay. Her legs were both straight on the ground, but, as she had fallen next to the pillar; the marble had kept her upper body leaning against it upright. He got on his knees and waved the hand now covered with blood in front of her face. When this didn't work, he called out, "Miss James?" repeatedly, to no avail. Nathan decided that she might wake up if he touched her cheek, but this posed a problem – which hand would he use? If he used his left hand, he'd put his blood on her face. However, his right arm hand been the one that had got shot, so to move his right hand to her face would be painful. Nathan instead tried nudging her with his left shoulder, but she still didn't respond. Deciding that he didn't want to put blood on her face – now that she wasn't holding the gun, Nathan could see that this woman was pretty hot – he inched his right arm towards her, grimacing all the while. When his right hand was close enough Nathan began to run his fingers up and down her cheek, finding that the feel of her smooth skin calmed him down a little. "Miss James?" he called again, wishing that he knew her first name.

Haley felt something touching her face. It felt warm and rough, but not scratchy or altogether unpleasant. As she heard her name being said her eyes fluttered open, and she saw a face that, despite a small bruise on his forehead, was the most gorgeous one she had ever seen. It took her another two seconds to realize that it was also the face of the man who had been about to rob her. Surprisingly, she did not pull away from him when she remembered and, even more surprisingly, he didn't stop touching her either.

He wasn't sure why. He'd seen her open her eyes and then…well, nothing after that. He'd just kept looking at her eyes, and how they looked brown, but also green, and he had completely forgotten that his hand was still on her cheek. Until the calm that had washed over Nathan while he'd been gazing at her was erased by a revival of the throbbing pain in his arm. Nathan dropped his right hand, and brought his left hand up for her to see. "I'm the one who's bleeding."

"Oh."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Minutes later, Nathan was sitting in the kitchen of the James mansion; his jacket on the back of his chair, and his shirt sleeve rolled up, showing where the bullet had grazed him. He looked over his shoulder and watched the girl as she bent down to get some disinfectant. She stood up suddenly, and Nathan resumed looking at the table in front of him. Yeah, the girl was hot; in that outfit, he'd have to be gay not to stare at her. But he certainly didn't want her catching him.

Haley set the bottle of spirit down next to the cotton wool on the table. She twisted open the bottle cap and poured some on the wool. She was about to put it on his wound but he held his other hand out to stop her.

"Will it hurt?" he asked.

Haley burst out laughing. "You're kidding me, right? You're a burglar, haven't you been shot before when you break into people's houses?"

"Not usually. And I wouldn't have been tonight either if you had been at the museum like everyone else. Why weren't you there anyway?"

"I have work tomorrow."

"You work?" Nathan asked surprised. Jimmy James wasn't as rich as Dan Scott, but he certainly a large enough fortune for his daughter to not need a job.

"Yes, I do. Not everyone can make a living out of stealing from others." And with that, Haley put the medicine on Nathan's cut.

"Ah!" he yelped in pain. "That hurts." He tried to move her hand, but she kept it firmly in place until she was satisfied it had been there for long enough. Nathan moved his head to examine his wound. This caused Haley to remember the bruise on his forehead.

"Did you cut that tonight too?"

"Yeah," he replied when he realized what she was referring to, "on one of your pillars. You should really re-think the design of your living room."

"We don't have any problems with it," Haley said, as she applied more spirit on a new piece of cotton wool. "But then, we don't waltz around there in the middle of the night without any lights on."

Nathan pouted, but the expression soon changed to a frown when she applied the medicine to the cut on his head. "Ow, ow; that really hurts."

"Oh, don't be such a baby." Instinctively, Haley removed her hand a little and blew on the wound. Nathan immediately stopped whining and took in the feel of her warm breath on his forehead and her chest against his shoulder as she leaned in. Haley suddenly became conscious of what she was doing and jerked away from him, before moving to throw the cotton wool away. Then she noticed that her little black nightdress displayed more than just a little cleavage, so she quickly retied the robe around her tighter so it was covered. Turning back to face him Haley said cheerfully, "Well, I'm not going to call the police, so you can just leave and no one has to know."

Even though he knew that it would be the best thing, Nathan didn't want to leave her just yet. Hoping that she was as nice a person as she seemed to be (she had, after all, cleaned his wound and promised not to tell anyone), he came up with a plan. "Oh, but I can't leave Miss James."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you shot me in the arm. I can't drive."

"Oh. I'll just call you a cab," Haley decided. She was about to reach for the phone, but the look on his face showed he didn't agree. "What?"

"My car is outside and if I leave it here it'll just cause questions. I'm thinking of you, really."

Haley humphed, but she knew he was right. There was only one thing for it, then. "Fine, I'll drive you home. Just let me get my coat."

Nathan waited until she had left the kitchen to grin. His plan actually had worked. The grin was wiped off his face when she returned though. She had her coat in hand, but had already put a pair of boots on, which, combined with her short nightdress, made her look even sexier.

Haley put her coat on, oblivious to the fact that the man who had been trying to rob her was now gaping at her. She did up the zip, said, "Okay then, let's go," and headed outside, without waiting for him. She didn't want him to think she was mean, it wasn't in her nature to be mean, but Haley decided it was best if she didn't look at him for too long, or make eye contact at all.

She got to the pavement outside her house, and he was only a few steps behind her. He led her to his open-top convertible which he had sensibly parked a little away from her house. Haley got in the driver's seat and Nathan sat down in the passenger side. "Well, for a burglar you certainly have a nice car."

"It's stolen." Nathan said it as a joke because he actually did own it, but was delighted with Haley's reaction.

"What! I can't drive a stolen car."

"How else can I get home?" Nathan pouted.

"B-but…" Haley began to protest. Shaking her head, she decided to just get it over with and started the car. As she reversed, she asked him, "Where to?"

"The Plaza."

"The Plaza!" Haley exclaimed. "You live at 'The Plaza'?"

Her outburst wasn't nearly so cute this time, as she took her hands off the wheel in the middle of the street. "Careful!" Nathan shouted and reached over to the steering wheel.

"Oops, sorry," Haley said and took the wheel back from him. "Hey! Your arm seemed just fine then."

"Oh - no, it hurts, it hurts," Nathan moaned, and held the bruise. He scrunched up his eyebrows to make it look like he was still in pain.

Haley rolled her eyes. She knew she should call him on it – he was so obviously faking – but, for some inexplicable reason, she didn't.

"Oh, and went you get home would you mind dusting the frame? Fingerprints and all that." Haley shot him a glare, but he only said innocently, "There's no point taking me home so my car isn't parked outside your house if you leave the fingerprints on the frame."

"Alright," Haley said grudgingly.

They completed the rest of their journey to 'The Plaza' in relative silence, both simply enjoying the other's presence. When they arrived Haley took the car inside the car park and both of them got out. "Oh," she cried out, "now how do I get home?"

Nathan smiled. "I'll call you a cab." Just as he said this, a man from the hotel appeared.

"Good evening, Mr. Scott."

"Good evening, Mr. Knoll. Would you call up a cab and charge it to my room please?"

"Certainly, Mr. Scott." Mr. Knoll went back inside the hotel premises to do just that.

Nathan turned back round to face his companion, but was surprised to find she looked angry. "I thought you wanted a cab? Or did you want to stay over?" he joked.

"Mr. Scott? You're Nathan Scott, aren't you?"

Nathan nodded nervously. Normally, he'd be glad she knew him but not with the look on her face. He still tried to keep the atmosphere light, "I guess you have an advantage over me; you know my name and I don't know yours."

"I can't believe this! You have more money than the rest of Tree Hill put together and you go about other people's houses stealing things? And how dare you ask me if I want to stay over!"

Haley stormed away from him as the cab approached. She opened the door, but turned around to take one last parting shot. She hadn't expected to find that he had followed her and was therefore standing directly in front of her. "Well, I suppose you think you're going to get some sort of goodnight kiss."

"Well, I don't usually on the first night, but since you've been so very obliging –" Nathan crushed his lips to hers, and Haley was powerless to stop him. He didn't break away until he needed air, and then didn't let go of her completely as she seemed somewhat faint again. She practically fell backwards into the cab and just sat there; her body in the cab and her feet on the floor outside.

Nathan didn't know what to do. He thought himself a good kisser, but couldn't recall ever getting a reaction like that. He was oddly proud, but he knew she would soon remember all the things she had thought of him earlier and become angry again. He bent down, picked up her legs and placed them inside the cab. He shut the door quietly and leaned over to the driver's window, telling him the address. Nathan looked again at her through the open window, and this time she locked eyes with him. He worried she would start shouting again, but she simply whispered, "Haley."

"What?" he asked.

"My name. It's Haley."


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Haley? Haley, where are you?" Jimmy James opened the door to the kitchen as a last resort, having already checked all the rooms upstairs. However, his daughter was still missing and now, he was really worried. As he had given all the servants the night off there was no one he could ask, save for Mrs. Tillman who lived next-door and Jimmy did not want to resort to that option. Mrs. Tillman was the leader of the Tree Hill gossip mill and would like nothing more than to tell the entire town that good-girl Haley James was out at all hours of the night and her father didn't know where she was. Jimmy knew that Haley wouldn't leave the house without good reason so he wasn't going to risk it getting out; he just hoped she came home soon.

Jimmy decided to give Haley ten minutes to get home before he called the police. In the 6th minute she arrived, walking leisurely through the door and to the main staircase, not even noticing her father standing in the living room. "Haley!"

She turned, a dreamy smile on her face, and said, "Oh, hello Daddy, how was the unveiling of the Venus?"

"A complete success. But where on earth have you been?"

"I caught a burglar in the house."

"A burglar!" Jimmy exclaimed.

Haley came inside the living room and stood in front of her father. "Yes, a burglar. He was trying to steal that painting," Haley pointed to the picture behind him.

"Really?" Jimmy said excitedly, delighted that someone thought his work was worth stealing. Then he caught a hold of himself and asked, "Well, what did he look like?"

Haley sighed. "Tall, dark and handsome. He had these really light blue eyes and sort of rugged good looks - in a very brutal, mean way!" she added, when she realized what she was saying.

"Oh. Do you know his name?"

Haley contemplated for a moment, before answering, "No."

"But, my dear, that still doesn't explain why you weren't at home."

"Well, I shot him so –"

"You shot him!"

"By accident, Daddy; he scared me and the pistol went off. Anyway, it hurt his arm so he couldn't drive himself home so I had to take him. I couldn't call the police in case they wanted to do some sort of test on the painting." Haley took something out of Jimmy's jacket pocket and walked past him, but he was too caught up in his thoughts to notice.

"No, you were quite right, my dear, quite right. Best to keep the police out of it. But I still wonder who it was. Must have been one of those society burglars, don't you think, Haley? Haley?" Jimmy turned around when she didn't answer him and saw that she was using his handkerchief to dust the frame of his painting. "Haley, what are you doing?"

"Dusting away the fingerprints, of course."

"Right. Of course."

Haley finished, and put the handkerchief back in her father's pocket. "Goodnight, Daddy." She kissed his cheek and left; she was half way up the stairs when he called out to her.

"Haley?"

"Yes?"

"This tall and, er, rugged burglar – he didn't molest you in any way, did he?"

"No."

"Oh; goodnight, then."

Haley skipped up the remainder of the stairs and closed her bedroom door quietly behind her. Leaving her boots and overcoat by the chair, Haley slipped back under the covers and turned the lights off. The night's events replayed in her mind.

She didn't know what to think about Nathan Scott. He was very-well known in her circle of society; Haley had heard all the gossip about him, including his reputation with women. He was certainly charming; she'd give them that. But she couldn't help wondering at everything else they'd said about him. He hadn't been rude or arrogant once, unless you counted the fact that he had been about to steal from her without needing the money anyway. And then there was that kiss.

Haley had no idea what to think of the kiss. Her head told her to get it out of her mind; Nathan was just another playboy who would use girls anyway he liked. But the kiss had – apart from being the most intense thing she had ever experienced – felt sincere. Haley was no expert, but she didn't think that Nathan could have pretended to like kissing her.

Haley closed her eyes and pulled the covers a little tighter around her. She knew she should get some rest but, somehow, she didn't think she'd be getting much sleep tonight.

……………

Nathan took off his jacket and threw it on the chair by the door of his hotel room, before flopping down on his bed. He should have been worrying about the fact that he had gotten caught attempting burglary and could have been sent to jail; his stealing days were definitely over. But all he could think about was her. Haley. And that kiss.

She had seemed really annoyed when she found out who he was; he didn't suppose she'd be much happier if she found out that he didn't have a very good reason for stealing either. But, she had calmed down when he kissed her. Haley was more than calm; the cab driver had probably thought she was in some kind trance. Nathan thought that he should probably be pleased, even proud, to have had that effect. However, Nathan kept wondering whether it meant that she would be less angry with him and would like to, even be eager to, kiss him again.

He remembered how tonight had taken place because he had been bored. Something told him he wasn't going to have that luxury for a while.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Haley looked around the art museum, admiring the paintings on display. She was on her lunch break and had promised her father that she would go down to the museum and look at the Chellini Venus, but since the moment she arrived she had felt guilty about loaning a fake and was therefore avoiding its room. However, she was unable to avoid someone else.

Haley walked to her right, but as her eyes had not completely left the painting she had been looking at, she didn't realize that someone was coming her way. As a result, she collided straight into him, and the shock made her fall slightly backwards. She was only saved from falling to the ground because the man caught her by the waist. Placing her hands on his shoulders to steady herself, Haley looked up, intending to apologize, "I'm so…" but her voice trailed off when she saw who the man was. "N-M- Mr. Scott," she stuttered.

"Haley," he breathed. This was actually the second time that day he had come to the museum, hoping to run into her, but he was surprised that his plan had actually worked – and so literally.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" Haley stuttered, and moved back out of his embrace.

"Oh, I just came to have a look around," said Nathan, affectedly casual.

Haley clapped her hands to her cheeks in shock. "Oh my God!"

"What's wrong?"

"You're –" Haley stopped herself when she realized how loud she had become, and lowered her voice. "You're casing the joint!"

Nathan couldn't hold back the smile that spread across his face.

"I can't believe you're thinking of stealing from here! You don't even have to steal – and now, I'm an accomplice! And –"

She was stopped by Nathan putting his fingers on her mouth. "Ssh. I'm not here to steal and it would be better if you didn't draw attention to us."

Haley nodded. When neither did anything, she said, "Could you take your hand from my mouth, please?"

Nathan hastily moved his hand away, trying to ignore the tingling sensation that had started when her lips brushed against his palm as she spoke.

"Oh, Miss James? Miss James!" A man about Jimmy James' age approached Haley. "Hello."

"Hello, Mr. Nye."

"Are you here to see the Chellini Venus?"

"Er, yes," Haley replied.

"Shall I take you to it? And, your friend?" Mr. Nye gestured to Nathan.

"Oh, he's not my friend."

"Nathan Scott." He held out his hand and Mr. Nye shook it.

"Son of Dan and Deborah Scott? It's a pleasure to meet you, sir; your mother made quite a sizeable donation to our museum only last month."

"You own the museum then?" Nathan inquired.

"No, I just run the place, but I am in charge of most things," Mr. Nye said proudly.

"Actually, Mr. Nye," Haley interrupted them, "we have to be going." She put her hand on Nathan's elbow, hoping he would get the message.

"But the Venus?" Mr. Nye protested. "It's only in the next room and I was hoping to show you our security system so that you will see how well protected your statue is."

"Oh, we'd love to see that," Nathan smirked.

Haley's eyes lit up in horror, but Mr. Nye mistook her expression for excitement. "Well, then," he said happily, "it's settled then. Right this way."

He walked ahead, and Nathan followed, leaving Haley no choice but to do the same.

The Chellini Venus had been placed in the centre of its room, as it was currently the main attraction. Mr. Nye got to it first and waited for Nathan and Haley to come along. "She's beautiful, isn't she?" he commented.

"Very," Nathan said.

Haley glared warningly at Nathan, but he made to effort to show he had noticed.

"You see those blue lights that form a square above and below the Venus?" Mr. Nye pointed them out. "They protect the Venus."

"That's very nice, sir, but we really have to go." Haley tried again, but it was no use.

"What do the lights do?" Nathan asked him.

"Right now you can't see it, but each light at the top is connected to one at the bottom, and they form a laser. If anything, even by a centimeter, crosses one of those lasers, an alarm sounds."

"Fascinating stuff, really, but –"

"The alarm contacts the Tree Hill Police. The only people with the password to reset it are myself and Mr. Salamone, the head of security here at the museum, and the password is changed daily. So, you can see, Miss James, your statue is in very safe hands."

Haley flashed him a defeated smile. He had already told Nathan the entire security system guarding the Venus.

"Excuse me, Mr. Nye, can I have a word?" A lady came up from behind him and tapped him on the back.

"Why, certainly, Mrs. Tillman – lovely talking to you Miss James, Mr. Scott. Please do visit again soon." The pair then exited, leaving Haley by the statue, alone with Nathan.

"So, Haley –" before Nathan could say anymore, Haley began to march away from him, and, despite her smaller legs, Nathan had to jog to keep up with her. "Haley. Haley, wait! Where are you going?"

"To work! I have a job, remember?"

"What did I do?"

They were in the parking-lot now and nearly at her car. "What did you do? You broke into my house, tried to steal my father's painting, and now you're going to steal his statue!"

"Haley! I apologized for trying to steal from your house, and I'm not going to steal the Venus."

"So you're a thief and a liar! Great." Haley unlocked her car door and tried to get in, but Nathan held onto the door.

"Could you just talk to me?"

"About what, Mr. Scott?"

"It's Nathan."

The sad tone in his voice softened her a little. "Nathan…what would you like to talk about?"

"Well…" Nathan faltered. He knew he wanted to talk to her, but he wasn't sure how to begin. "Is there anything you'd like to ask me?" It seemed better than if he initiated the talking.

"Why did you kiss me last night?" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, so Haley had no option but to wait for an answer.

Nathan took a moment to think about this; maybe he should have started the talking after all. "Um…it seemed like a good idea at the time."

"What!" Haley exclaimed. Nathan opened his mouth to explain himself, but Haley just grabbed the car door from him, got inside her car and drove away, leaving Nathan standing in a cloud of smoke.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Jimmy smiled as he looked over his latest completed masterpiece; a Van Gough. Wiping the paint off his hands, he threw a sheet over the painting, crept out of his secret study and made his way to his daughter's bedroom. "Haley, would you like the privilege of being the first person to see my newest painting?"

"No," she said sternly.

"But, darling, it's marvelous. If I do say so myself."

"You always say that about your paintings. And I'm sure it is, Daddy, but I will not encourage you to keep doing this. You know that I want you to stop."

"Yes, alright."

"So you will stop?" Haley asked hopefully.

"What? No, of course not. I meant I wouldn't ask you to come see the painting. I'll be putting it in the living room tomorrow anyway, so you can see it then."

Haley sighed heavily, and got back to applying her make-up.

"Are you going out somewhere, Haley?" her father asked when he noticed she was dressed up.

"Yes. I'm going on a date with a man I met at work yesterday. His name is Chris Keller; he works with computers." Haley put her lipstick down and studied her appearance. Haley had returned to work from her lunch break fuming yesterday, after her encounter with Nathan. She decided that the rumours about his playboy antics had to be true, and she was both angry and upset that he had made her a part of it. So, when she bumped into Chris Keller at her office in the evening and he had asked her to dinner tonight she had accepted. He wasn't as…breathtaking to look at as Nathan was, but he seemed an interesting conversationalist and not someone who stole art for kicks.

"Chris Keller?" Jimmy repeated.

"Yes. Have you heard of him?"

"Actually, I have. He's from New York. One of the biggest art collector's in the state. I remember someone pointing him out to me at the unveiling of the Chellini Venus. He's got a bit of a weird hairstyle, hasn't he?"

"What?" Haley looked shocked.

"I'm only joking dear, there's no need to get offended. You've only met him once."

"No, Daddy, it's not that. It's just that he never said anything about his art collection. In fact, he specifically said that he had never heard of you. He even made it seem like he didn't like art at all."

"That is strange." Jimmy sat down on a chair, and started to think.

A possible explanation struck Haley. "Daddy, you don't think…" she said tentatively.

"Think what, my dear?" Jimmy asked, dreading that she might be thinking the same thing he was.

"What if he…" Haley felt unable to speak, much like she did when Nathan was around, only this time it wasn't a pleasant feeling at all.

"What if he's trying to get to me through you because he figured out the Venus was a fake?" Jimmy said the words Haley could not. "It did cross my mind, yes."

"What shall we do? Shall I call him and cancel?"

"No, you can't do that. If that is why he asked you to dinner then it will seem too suspicious for you to cancel. You have to go to that dinner, Haley, and then you can find out the truth."

She nodded in agreement. "Okay."

……………

"Chris?"

"Yes, Haley?" He took a sip of his drink and placed it back on the table.

She inhaled deeply as she went over the plan in her head. "Chris...we need to talk."

"Oh. I thought it was a little too early in the relationship for that," he laughed at his joke and flashed a smirk her way.

Haley remembered how charming Nathan looked when he smirked, and quickly pushed the thought out of her mind. Now was not the time to be thinking about him. "You said that you had never heard of my father, but he's sure he saw you at the unveiling of the Venus on Thursday. Is that true?"

The smirk quickly disappeared from Chris' features and he looked at the table before answering. "Yes, I was there that day. The truth is Haley, I'm -"

"Excuse me, sir, there's a call for you?"

"What?" Chris asked the waiter. "Can't you see I'm in the middle of something?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but he insisted on speaking to you. And he said he was calling from New York."

Chris reluctantly excused himself and went to answer the phone. Haley impatiently played with her necklace and didn't notice the tall man who came in from the main entrance until he was standing behind her and whispered, "Haley."

She turned around sharply. "Nathan! What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you," he walked round the table and sat in Chris' empty seat.

"You need to go away before he comes back."

"Do you know how hard it was to get that call through?"

"You called him?" Haley exclaimed. "What's wrong with you? Don't you have places to be, things to steal?"

"Will you just agree to talk to me?" Nathan pleaded. "Come see me at my hotel." Haley, however, avoided eye contact, and while Nathan had told himself he wouldn't leave without an answer her date was returning and his presence would just cause too many questions. "I'm staying at Room 501," Nathan told her and left through the back entrance.

Haley watched him leave, her mind in a flurry, but Chris' return forced her to come back to the matter at hand.

"Sorry about that," he apologized as he sat back in his chair opposite her.

"It's okay."

"Well, as I was saying…I'm afraid, Haley, that I asked you to dinner tonight so that I could get to your father."

"And why would you want to do that?" Haley asked as innocently as she could.

"Because of the Chellini Venus. I saw her on Wednesday and I…"

Haley prepared herself for the worst. "Yes?"

"I fell in love with her!"

"What?"

"It's magnificent. I must add it to my collection, but at the opening I heard that your father refuses to sell it, so I thought that through you I might be able to convince him. Do I have a chance?"

Haley found herself laughing she was so relieved. "I'm so sorry, Chris, but it's true he simply won't sell."

"Not even if you ask him?"

"Not even for me," she shook her head with a smile. "I am sorry to disappoint you, but here's your consolation prize!" Haley leaned over and gave him a smacking kiss on the lips.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

"Well? Does he know?" Jimmy asked his daughter urgently as she came downstairs for breakfast. The smile on her face told him the answer before she said a word.

"He doesn't know a thing! He loves the Chellini Venus so much he wants to buy it from you and when he heard that you won't sell it he thought that I might be able to help."

"So, we're safe?" he said excitedly.

"We're safe!" Haley ran forward and hugged her father.

"Well, I think this calls for a celebration. I'm going to the cellar."

"Daddy!" Haley chided. "It's a little early to be drinking, don't you think?"

"It's never too early, my dear. And it'll only be a little." However, before Jimmy James could leave the room, the butler entered.

"Excuse me, sir; a Mr. Whitford is here to see you. He says the museum sent him."

"Then please ask him to come in."

The butler bowed and left the living room, returning soon with Mr. Whitford. "Good morning, Mr. James."

"Good morning, Mr. Whitford. Would you like to sit down?"

"No, thank you, I'm here on business and I won't detain you any longer than necessary. The museum sent me on a matter regarding your Chellini Venus which has been on display for three days now."

Jimmy glanced nervously back at Haley before looking at Mr. Whitford. "And what matter would that be?" he asked cautiously.

"Insurance! It seems that you never took out any on the Venus."

"Why, no, I didn't –"

"Exactly. The museum cannot afford to borrow items uninsured so we took the liberty of taking one out for you ourselves. It's at no cost to you; we just need your signature."

Jimmy took the pen he offered and looked over the large document fleetingly. "So all I have to do is sign this and everything is taken care of?"

"Exactly. Once you sign this paper the sculpture will be insured against everything from theft to the roof falling in."

"And how much is it being insured for?"

"It has been valued at," Mr. Whitford checked his paper, "one million dollars."

Jimmy looked over at Haley, who simply shrugged as if to say 'Why not?'. Content in her approval he signed the document happily and handed it back to Mr. Whitford.

"Thank you very much, Mr. James. You should be hearing from us this time next Saturday."

"Next Saturday? Why does it take a week to insure?"

"Well, the sculpture needs to be checked for authenticity and Professor Bauer can only be here on Friday."

"P-professor Bauer?" Jimmy stuttered.

"Yes, he checks all our works at the museum, has for years. Excellent in his field."

Jimmy looked as if he was slowly falling apart so Haley did her best to appear composed in front of the guest. She quickly ushered her father into a chair and politely thanked Mr. Whitford, who left as soon as she told him Jimmy James was prone to suffering recurring bouts of influenza.

"Haley, what shall we do?"

"We can find a way around this, Daddy," Haley tried to calm him down.

"No, there is no way out. We can either run and be on the run forever or stay here and be ruined." He hung his head in his hands. "It is hopeless."

Haley was about to comfort her father when an idea occurred to her. Since Jimmy's head was in his palms he did not see her run over to the side table, open the telephone book and start dialing. He was so far in his own sorrows that he heard but paid no attention to what she said. "Hello, is that 'The Plaza'? Could you put me through to room 501, please?"


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Nathan walked into the lobby of the Plaza and looked around for any sign of Haley. She had called him and told him to meet her in the hotel's restaurant at eight but he had come downstairs a little early in case she did so too. He surveyed the people there but she wasn't one of them. Nathan was about to go to the bar and wait, when he heard someone whisper his name behind him. He turned around and saw a person hiding behind a tall potted plant. He moved closer and saw the person was wearing a long oversized beige coat and a beige hat with an enormous brim which was pushing the plant in the opposite direction. "Haley?"

"I said eight o'clock."

Nathan had to choke back a laugh. "What are you wearing?"

"I'm being covert so as not to attract attention."

"Well, you'll be attracting nothing but attention when you walk into the restaurant wearing that. You look kind of silly."

Haley frowned. Her father had said the same thing. Only he had been red-faced and rolling around on the floor with laughter when he said so. That had quickly stopped when she reminded him that he was on the verge of being ruined. "Well, look, we can't go into the restaurant together –"

"Why not?"

"We can't be seen together - I can't discuss it with you here! I'm going to the restaurant now and in five minutes you should follow me."

"Should I sit at a separate table too? We can get the waiters to pass notes."

Haley glared at him but under the brim of her hat all he could see was shadow. "Wait five minutes. Don't forget."

……………

'This is great, just great,' Nathan thought as he scanned the restaurant. He had expected it to be easy to find Haley in her get-up but the ugly beige outfit was nowhere to be seen. He walked further inside, going all the way to the bar. When he still couldn't find her he grabbed a stool, sitting so that he was facing the entrance and the tables rather than the bar so he could see her.

As his eyes roamed the crowd they came to rest on a young woman sitting on her own at a booth in one corner of the room. She was wearing a light blue dress with gold beads down the front that clung to her figure in all the right places. Her long blonde-brown hair fell in loose waves. When he saw her face Nathan's eyes grew wide. "Haley?"

She looked at him expectantly until he came to her table and sat down next to her in the booth. "Why did you go over there? I didn't say to go to the bar."

"I know - I thought you hadn't come yet."

"Where else would I be? Anyway," Haley said, "there's something we have to discuss, Nathan. Nathan?" she added when she noticed he wasn't paying attention. "What's wrong?"

"What? Oh, nothing," he shrugged.

"Then, why do you keep staring at me but don't talk?"

"Oh…well, that…" he gulped. "You look…"

"'Kind of silly'?" she offered referring to his comment in the lobby.

"Actually, I was thinking more like 'stunning', but…" Nathan let his comment trail off and grinned as he noticed Haley blush.

Haley bit her lip to hold back the nervous smile she felt tugging on her lips and took a long sip of her drink.

"What prompted the change of outfit?" Nathan inquired.

Haley blushed harder. After her father had voiced his opinion of her previous attire she had asked him what he thought would be more inconspicuous. He had replied that she should wear something sexy. When Haley had pushed for an explanation he said that that way she would look like Nathan's mistress. "And trust me, kiddo, if they think _that_, they're all gonna leave you to your own business." Haley had disagreed, of course, but she had worn the dress underneath the coat. Just in case.

His theory seemed to have been proven right, because now no one seemed to be looking at them, whereas she had felt like everyone was looking at them – or at least, her – out in the lobby. But, there was no way she could tell that to Nathan so she just said, "I thought it would blend in with everyone else better."

"Oh, trust me," Nathan shook his head, "you don't look like anybody else here. And I mean that in a good way."

"Why don't we just get onto the reason that we're here?" Haley said, feeling the need to change to the subject.

Nathan nodded. He felt bad about what he had said outside the museum on Friday and wanted to apologize and maybe, if things went okay, throw in the prospect of dating. However, before he could even open his mouth, Haley began.

"I have something of a business deal for you."

"Business?" 'Who considered dating a business deal?'

"Yes. The reason I called you back is because I need your help." Her voice was getting softer so Nathan moved closer to her. "I need you to help me steal something."

"You want to steal something?"

Haley nodded. "The Chellini Venus."

"The Chellini Venus?" Nathan repeated. "Your Chellini Venus?" Haley nodded again, confusing Nathan even more. "Why would you want to steal something which belongs to you in the first place?"

"Well…" Haley began. "I can't tell you."

"Let me get this straight. You want me to help you steal something which, not only is impossible to steal, but already yours and you won't even tell me why?"

When he said it out loud it sounded extremely crazy, but it was also true. "Yeah."

Nathan was so flabbergasted that he had no idea what to say. "Why did you ask me?"

"Oh…" Haley hadn't expected that question. "Well, its not like I know a lot of thieves," Nathan flinched when she called him that, "and…I thought you might help."

"And why did you think that?"

"Well…" That was a good question actually, why had she thought that? Haley knew it had something to do with the fact that he had turned up while she had been on her 'date' the previous night. "I just thought you might," she muttered.

"And if I say no, what will you say?" Nathan questioned.

"Can you move back?"

"What?" 'What kind of answer was that?'

"You keep moving this way as you talk and you're about to push me out of the booth."

Nathan saw that she was right, so he moved back to his side. "Sorry."

"It's okay."

"So…if I refuse, what will you do?"

Haley frowned. "Well, I guess I'll have to try to steal it by myself."

Nathan shook his head. Even though he was reluctant to try to steal the sculpture there was no way he'd let Haley attempt it on her own. Besides, he was always looking for something interesting, or an adventure of some sort; trying to steal the Chellini Venus would be anything but boring. "Okay. I'll help you."

"You will?" Haley asked eagerly.

Nathan nodded and she smiled at him brightly, as she had never done before. It was then that he realized he was in way over his head.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

"What are you doing?" Haley asked Nathan for the third time. Yet again, he didn't reply. Haley folded her arms and waited impatiently for Nathan to stop watching one of the guards and explain what was going on to her. Finally the guard came out from behind the area that was roped off to the public and out of the room. "Well?"

Nathan just made a 'shush' sound before he checked that no one was looking at them in the dim corner of the room where the Chellini Venus was on display and stepped over the rope.

"Nathan, you can't go there; it's employees only," Haley said in a hushed tone.

"We're also not supposed to steal, yet that's why we're here. Now stand guard and turn around."

Haley humphed but did as told. Nathan had agreed to help her on Sunday, but he said he needed time to formulate a plan. He had called her the next day and so, here she was spending her Tuesday lunch break at the art museum. She was glad he was helping her, but she wished he would tell her his plan. A part of her wondered whether he was planning on stealing the sculpture and running off with it himself. It would benefit her father as they wouldn't have to deal with the messy issue of getting rid of it and Nathan would never be able to show it to anyone so the James' would be safe, but it also meant that she would never see Nathan again. For reasons she still couldn't understand she did not like that idea.

"Okay, I'm done," Nathan said and came out from behind the rope.

"What were you doing back there?"

"Just checking on some things. When do you have to get back to work?"

Haley glanced at her watch. "Well, if I'm going to get back in time I have to leave here in about five minutes."

"Okay, then let's go." Nathan and Haley began to walk away from the rope, but Nathan suddenly stopped when they got to the centre of the room.

"What is it?" Haley asked, stopping also.

"The Venus…" He grabbed a pair of miniature binoculars from the woman standing next to him and used them to look at the Chellini Venus.

Haley was too busy worrying that Nathan had seen something wrong with the sculpture to apologize to the lady for him. "What about it?" she asked softly.

He handed back the binoculars to the lady nonchalantly, and she replied by turning on her heel and curtly walking out of the room. "She looks like you."

"That old lady?"

"No, the Venus."

"What?" Haley scoffed. "Of course she doesn't."

"I swear she looks like you," Nathan repeated as they walked out of the room, and then the museum. "Are you sure that one of your ancestors wasn't around in Chellini's time?"

Haley gulped. All her father's relations told her that she looked just like her grandmother, who had modeled for Haley's grandfather when he made the Venus. How could Nathan – who was clearly no art expert – see a similarity which others could not? "Yes, I'm sure."

Nathan merely shrugged and observed their surroundings. They were in the car park now, and you could see the buildings around them. "You had to choose to rob a building whose neighbours are a councilman and the town Mayor?"

"It's not my fault they live on either side of the museum. Anyway you do have a plan, right?"

"Just meet me in my hotel room when you finish work today."

……………

It was nearly four o'clock when Haley knocked on the door to Nathan's hotel room. He answered it soon, and she walked inside, "So…what have you been doing?"

"Just taking care of some details," he said, noncommittal.

Haley frowned at the way he wasn't giving her any details, but she still felt that he was a somewhat trustworthy, if not very good, burglar. She looked around the room, and noticed that all his things were just strewn around the room. She picked a boomerang up off the bed and played with it in her hands as she watched him look through a bag on the other side of the room. "Why did you ask me to meet you here?"

"So you could try on this." He took out some clothes from the bag and handed them to her. "The bathroom's over there."

She raised her eyebrows at him questioningly, but he offered no further explanation, so she put the boomerang back on the bed, took the clothes from him and went to the bathroom. She changed out of her clothes, and into the dark blouse and long skirt. Haley observed her appearance in the bathroom mirror and wondered why he gave them to her; the clothes weren't anything special. After attempting to resist the urge to sneak a look at Nathan's toiletries and identify his cologne – and failing miserably – Haley walked out of the bathroom with her hands on her hips. "What exactly am I supposed to look like?"

"One of the cleaners," Nathan told her.

"The cleaners?"

"Yeah; remember what the man at the museum told us this morning after I complained about a frame being really dusty? The cleaners come in to the museum every night after midnight. And now," he said, giving her a bucket with a dusting rag and some cleaning spray, "the outfit is complete."

As Haley looked through the bucket, she couldn't help but smile. 'He did have a plan!'

"Maybe you should practice, just to look the part."

Haley rolled her eyes. "I have dusted before; just because my father has money I don't use it as an excuse to make other people do everything for me."

"Of course not, that's what I do, isn't it?" Nathan commented.

Haley immediately regretted her words. Truth be told, she had been implying him, but she felt bad about it. He was helping her when he didn't have to, especially since he could go to jail for it. "I didn't mean you –"

"Yeah, you did." Nathan said it like it meant nothing, but obviously it did. He turned away from her and moved towards the balcony, staring out the open doors.

"Nathan…" Haley was worried. She'd never seen him this still before.

"What's the reason for doing this?"

The million-dollar question. One she very well knew the answer too, but couldn't tell him. "But, you know, I told you –"

"No, I don't know, Haley," he was facing her again, and his height meant she had to look up to meet his gaze, "I don't know because you didn't tell me."

"But I told you that I can't tell you." Her voice was becoming high-pitched in that school-girlish way she hated, but she was powerless to stop it.

"Well, then I can't help you."

Haley felt her heart sink, but she couldn't be angry with him. She didn't even know why she thought he would help in the first place. "Of course…you're right. If I were you, I'd say the same thing." Her eyes were growing heavy and a slightly watery. "I'll just go change –"

"Are you crying?"

"No!" Haley protested loudly, even as the tears welling up in her eyes were threatening to spill.

"You're crying! You're trying to soften me up so I'll help you! Well, it won't work!" he said determinedly.

"I'm not trying to do anything!" A tear streamed down her face and she wiped it away hastily. She started to run back to the bathroom, "I'll just go and change."

"Well, you do that," Nathan said. "And meet me at tomorrow at five at the museum." Haley sharply turned around at this statement. The evident happiness in her face made Nathan grow angry at his own clear weakness. "And don't be late," he shouted at her.

Haley grinned, "Yes, sir," as she giddily returned to the bathroom.

When she closed the door behind her Nathan let out a long sigh. He then proceeded to bang his head against the wall.


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: This is one of my favourite parts in the movie so I hope you guys enjoy it, but whether you'll like what happens is doubtful – read on and see what I mean!**

**Chapter Nine**

Haley checked herself in the front room mirror and, satisfied with her appearance, picked up her bag containing her change of clothes and called to her butler.

"Yes, Miss James?" he replied.

"I'm going out now, and if anyone calls for me could you please tell them that you don't know where I am or when I'll be back?"

"Of course, Miss James."

Just then the doorbell rang. Haley ran to the living room to hide as the butler answered the door.

"Hello, I'm here to see Haley."

Haley frowned. She could recognize Chris' voice. 'What does he want?'

"I'm afraid she's not at home," the butler told him, "but I could leave a message, Mr.…?"

"Keller," he replied and strode inside the house, "But it's fine, I'll wait."

"I don't know when she'll be back."

"Doesn't matter," Chris said and sat down in a chair near their front door.

The butler clearly didn't know what to do, and neither did Haley. To go out through the front door she'd have to pass Chris. She didn't mind talking to him, but he would likely delay her and then she'd be late meeting Nathan at the museum. She could go out the back entrance, but there was no guarantee that Chris wouldn't see her as she left the living room.

Haley decided to risk it, but just before she got inside the kitchen, Chris saw her reflection in the mirror she had previously been looking at herself in. "Haley," he called, standing up.

"Oh, hello," she said politely turning round, moving towards him.

"Your butler told me you'd left."

"Well I had, but I forgot something," she gestured to the large bag in her hand, "so I came in through the back entrance. I'm going now though; goodbye," she said to both men.

"No, no, wait a second." Chris held her arm.

"I'm late, Chris, it's nice to see you, but I have to go. Can't you come by tomorrow?"

"Not tomorrow, this is urgent, it has to be now. It'll only take a minute."

"But –" Haley began, but was taken off guard when he threw something to her. She caught it in both hands and opened the small red box to find a ring inside, with the biggest diamond she had ever seen on it. Haley was shocked. "What is this?"

"An engagement ring, of course."

"But - I hardly know you – and you don't know me either –"

Chris tutted her protests away. "There's time for all that. I make snap decisions and they're always good – made one of my best deals doing business that way."

He obviously thought this a compliment so Haley did her best not to be offended. "But, I don't consider marriage a business deal –"

He tutted again, and took the box out of her hands.

"Why don't you come by tomorrow and we can discuss this properly then, but I really have to go."

"Oh, you can go, but first, here."

"Oh no," Haley said as he tried to give her the ring.

"Think about it all you want, but keep that with you," Chris said and put the ring on her finger.

"But –" Haley shook her head and tried to take the ring off.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Chris suddenly twirled Haley, dipped her low in his arms and kissed her.

Haley opened her eyes wide, as she tried to push him away, but then noticed the time on his watch. It was five o'clock!

……………

Nathan paced outside the museum's main entrance. He had been waiting there for Haley for ages now. He had wondered if she had forgotten where they were supposed to meet and had stayed in the car park, but neither she nor her car were there when he checked so he was back here again. For a fleeting moment, Nathan wondered whether she had decided not to go through with the robbery after all, but he shook his head at the thought. She had cried when he said he wouldn't help her – he was still scolding himself for that incident – so that was ruled out too.

"I'm here, I'm here," a voice called. Nathan turned to see Haley run up the main steps; her large bag in hand, panting for her loss of breath. The round neck of her short silver cocktail dress revealed her slender neck and shoulder blades. The movement of her chest due to her heavy breathing distracted Nathan at first, but the he remembered himself.

"Where have you been? We were supposed to meet here at five."

"I know, I'm sorry, I was getting engaged."

"What?" Nathan exclaimed.

"Well…" Haley tried to explain it so it wouldn't sound too ridiculous, "this man, Chris Keller – the one I was with that night at the restaurant – he proposed and I couldn't keep you waiting so I ended up getting engaged to him. Am I very late?"

Tearing his eyes off the huge diamond currently encrusted in the ring on Haley's hand, Nathan checked his watch. "It's five-twenty, so we've got ten minutes before the museum closes; would you like to go back and marry him too?"

Haley rolled her eyes, before taking Nathan's arm and entering the museum with him.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

"So how exactly is this supposed to work?" Haley asked.

"What do you mean?" Nathan replied.

"Your plan. You still haven't told me what it is and we both know how tight the security system is," Haley explained in hushed tones. "Are you sure your plan is going to work?"

"Let's just say that I'm depending on the natural human reaction. Come this way." Nathan led her towards the area that had been roped off. "Wait here a minute," he told her. Then, he jumped over the rope as he had done the previous day, while she patiently waited guard. A minute later he was back. "Okay, let's go."

"What were you doing back there?"

"Just checking on tonight's accommodation." He stopped in front of the Venus and Haley stood next to him. "Okay, the closing bell will ring in a minute. We'll wait here till then."

Haley nodded.

"You know, she really does look like you…" Nathan observed

"Oh, stop that."

Soon, the bell rang and people around them began to move. "Go get your bag from the counter, and come back here," Nathan instructed.

Haley gave her token to the lady at the counter and took her bag. Then she returned to where Nathan was standing. "Now what?"

"Now we watch the natural human reaction."

Haley watched as Nathan placed a museum guide onto the mantelpiece, so that it was in the path of the worker who was collecting paper and putting it into his bag. Nathan then reached into the pocket of his jacket, took out a bunch of coins and placed it inside the guide.

As soon as the man picked the guide up, all the coins fell to the ground. He bent down to pick them off the floor, and the three people near to him, including the guard in the room, also bent down to help.

While they were thus distracted Nathan pulled Haley in the opposite direction from the exit and took her behind the rope. He then opened the door to the small cupboard he had just unlocked and ushered her inside. He followed her in and closed the door behind them. "We have to be very quiet until the museum is shut and everyone had left," Nathan whispered. He turned around and collided with Haley. The room hadn't looked so small when only he was inside it.

Haley's eyes grew wide as she realized how cramped they were inside this cupboard. Her entire body was now pressed up against Nathan's, and she couldn't help but feel embarrassed at their closeness. "I didn't realize the accommodation would be quite so…small."

"Well," Nathan shrugged, "it's the height of the tourist season, darling; everywhere else is fully booked. This was the best I could do."

Haley cringed at the way he said 'darling'. It was like he was mocking her or something. She started to move, but Nathan's hands came up to her shoulders to stop her. She was about to question him, but then heard the sound of a person outside the door.

Nathan and Haley both stayed absolutely still while the guard moved around outside the door. As soon as he was gone, Haley let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding. She looked up at Nathan and whispered, "Now what do we do?"

"We wait."

**A/N: I know, this is a short update, but the action is just about to begin, so hang in there!**


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

Nathan checked his watch and looked over at Haley, who was sitting to his left with her knees huddled close to her chest. Since there was hardly any space in the closet anyway, Nathan had come to the conclusion that she was doing so to prevent her body from touching his. Trying to ignore the insult, he whispered, "Haley?"

"Yeah?"

"Right now all the guards will be in their room so I'm going outside. You should wait here; I'll only be a few seconds."

Haley nodded. "Okay." She watched him slip something out of the sleeve of his dinner jacket; it was the boomerang she had seen in his room the previous day. Before she could ask him about it, he opened the cupboard door and crept into the main room.

Nathan carefully stepped over the rope and then into the main room. However, instead of approaching the Venus he remained where he was. Concentrating, Nathan took his aim, just like he had been practicing, and threw the boomerang.

It came back to him swiftly, but his aim had been too wide and it missed his target. Nathan took a deep breath and threw it again. This time, the boomerang did just what it was supposed to. It went close to the Chellini Venus; not close enough to knock the sculpture over, but close enough to pass through the lasers, which was what Nathan wanted. The moment the boomerang cut the first laser, the alarm sounded, ringing through the entire museum.

As soon as he caught the boomerang, Nathan ran back to the cupboard, where Haley was standing with a terrified look on her face and had her hands clapped over her ears. He realized that he had forgotten to tell her that the alarm would go off, but he had no time for explanations.

Nathan pulled Haley by the elbow to a little corner of the cupboard that was further in. It had even less space than they had been previously sitting, but the sheets and brooms and other odds and ends that were there would hide them from view in case someone came to check.

……………

The moment the alarm went off all the guards in the room bolted upright. Quickly putting their jackets back on, they all ran out to see what had happened, except for the guard Tim. He stayed behind to clean up the cards on the table. If something had been stolen then he didn't want the owner of the museum to walk into the guard room and see that they had been playing poker. Especially since he would be the one to get the blame.

Tim put the card pack away, took a sip from the open bottle of beer, put his jacket on and walked out of the guard room. Two seconds later, he returned, took another sip of beer, hid the bottle in his jacket and went outside again.

When he reached the main room of the museum, the alarm was still blaring and all the guards were running around trying to find what was missing. The head guard, Mr. Salamone, saw Tim just standing around and ordered him to check the basement.

Sighing, Tim made trudged past the roped off area and past the cupboard door. Behind that was a board of keys and the door to go to the basement. Tim put down his bottle of beer on the floor below the keys and went into the basement.

Soon, the police had arrived and they came to the same conclusion as the guards had – absolutely nothing had been stolen. After the police left Mr. Salamone went back to the guard room and picked up the piece of paper where he had written down today's code for the alarm. He punched it in, turned the key in the lock and, inside the little safe, he reset the alarm.

The silence didn't last for long, though. Only half the guards were back in the room when the phone rang. They all watched as Mr. Salamone answered it. "Hello?...Mr. councilman?...Yes, I know it is loud…Nothing was stolen……No, I don't know why it went off…Yes, sir…Very well, sir." Mr. Salamone cringed as the city councilman slammed the phone down in his ear. Like it was his fault the alarm went off for no reason!

……………

Haley inhaled deeply to calm herself down, equal parts annoyed and pleased when the scent of Nathan's cologne filled her nose. The severe lack of space in this corner of the cupboard meant that her head was now buried in Nathan's chest. Resisting the urge to place her hands there too so that she could better feel his muscles, Haley tried to ignore the sound of his escalating heartbeat and concentrate on slowing down her own breathing. This was somewhat difficult, considering the fact that the alarm was still blaring and Nathan's hands were currently resting on her hips. She contemplated asking him to move them, but that created 2 problems: where would he put them instead (since there was very little space left) and did she really want him to move them at all?

Haley tried again to push out her thoughts and concentrate on her breathing. 'Breathe,' she thought to herself. 'Just breathe. Think only of breathing. And not of how Nathan feels and smells really good right now. No – no – don't think of Nathan. Breathing. Think of breathing. Breathing is good. Just calm down, Haley. – Oh my God! How am I supposed to control my own heart rate if Nathan's keeps going up? Does he not realize that this whole stealing thing is stressful for me? I mean, my family's future depends on it! No, of course he doesn't know that because I didn't tell him. Well…he should still try to be a little considerate and slow down his own heart rate so that I can lower mine. What does he have to be all excited about anyway, stealing must be a regular thing for him…Unless...No, it couldn't be……Oh, will they just hurry up and turn the stupid alarm off!'

'God, Haley looks hot,' Nathan thought. Her hair was brushing against his neck, and he contemplated running one of his hands through it – to calm her down, of course, since her heart beat was going through the roof – the mission seemed to be scaring her – but then the alarm was turned off.

Somewhat reluctantly, Haley and Nathan made their way back to the larger (but only by a very small amount) area of the cupboard and sat down.

"Well…" Haley began, breaking the silence that had come over them ever since Nathan returned, "that's something which doesn't happen everyday."

"No, it doesn't," Nathan agreed.

"So, how much more waiting do we have to do before your next move?"

"About an hour," Nathan told her. The awkward silence settled once again, until a few minutes later when Haley was sure she heard Nathan mumble, "Uh, oh."

"Nathan…"

He moved closer to the door and rattled the door a bit, "Haley, don't freak out, but…"

"But what?"

"We're locked in."


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

"Locked in! How can we be locked in?" Haley exclaimed.

"We both heard someone open the door and check in here while we were hiding over there, they must have locked it then," Nathan said reasonably

"B-but –"

"Don't talk so loud," Nathan told her, "and try to calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down!" Haley proceeded to hit Nathan on his shoulder. "This is all your fault!"

"My fault? You're the one who wanted to steal your own statue in the first place!"

"You should have come up with a plan that could get us out if we got locked in!"

"I did!" Nathan said angrily.

"And you should have – did you just say that you did?"

"Yes! If you'd stop hitting me and listen to me instead then I could tell you that I _can_ get us out of this."

"Oh. Sorry," Haley said sheepishly.

Nathan rolled his eyes and stood up. Haley watched him take a tape measure out of his jacket and start measuring some distance on the wall. She wanted to ask him what he was doing, but she had the feeling that after her outburst – and her hitting him – he wasn't in the best of moods with her. So she watched him silently, until he asked her, "Can you hold this?"

She stood up and held the tape measure in place as Nathan took out a pen and marked the spot he wanted on the wall. Then he gave her the tape measure and pen to hold and took out a magnet from his inner jacket pocket. "So, what else do you have hidden there?" Haley said jokingly. Nathan didn't reply. 'So…he's pissed. Note to self: shut up.'

Nathan placed the magnet over the spot he had marked with the pen. Haley heard a clicking sound as something attached itself to the magnet. Keeping the magnet attached to the wall, Nathan proceeded to push it slightly upwards and then move it to his right, towards the door. He kept doing this, moving in the path he was directing the magnet, Haley following him as she watched over his shoulder. Soon the magnet was on part of the door; Nathan gently lowered it, both Haley and himself bending down as he did. When the magnet was just above the very bottom of the door Nathan took it off the door and Haley heard a small noise, of something falling on the floor. Nathan put his hand under the small crack below the door and when he brought it out again, he was holding a key in his hand.

"Wow," Haley breathed.

Nathan smiled at her briefly, before putting the key in the lock and turning it. To his irritation, the lock didn't budge.

"Is it the wrong key?" Haley worried.

"No," Nathan shook his head, knowing his measurements were correct. He had measured the distance of the door to this key on the board of keys more than once. He turned the key again, but it didn't open. "It doesn't unlock from the inside. Luckily, I brought this."

From his trouser pocket Nathan pulled out a long white cord. Haley only saw the strange-looking silver thing on its end for a second before Nathan pushed it through the keyhole, having already taken the key out. Nathan slowly pushed more of the cord out the keyhole until Haley heard the silver bit at the end touch the concrete floor, and then she saw it emerge from underneath the door. Nathan stopped pushing the cord, and put the end of the key in the silver part at the end of the cord. He then started pulling the cord back up, the bottom of it going out through the door and coming back in through the key hole. Soon, the key was in the hole; Nathan turned the cord sideways – careful not to lose the key – and this time was successful. The lock turned and the door swung open.

Nathan took the key out of the lock and looked at Haley with a triumphant smile. She was looking at him like she could kiss him. This reminded him of the one time they had kissed, and he fought to brush the thought out of his mind. It wasn't easy when she was so close to him that she was practically breathing down his neck (and not in an irritating way, either).

Nathan jerkily concentrated on putting his things back in his pockets, and then stood up to put distance between himself and Haley. This was hard since she stood up after him.

"I'm sorry I started yelling at you. And for hitting you."

"It's okay," Nathan shrugged.

"No, it's not. You have no reason to help me, and yet you are. If something does go wrong then it's my fault, not yours, since I was the one who started this," Haley said quickly. "I was just so worried that we wouldn't get the statue and then on Friday –" Haley immediately stopped as she realized what she had almost revealed.

"Yes?"

"Nothing," Haley shook her head hurriedly. "It's nothing."

Nathan shifted a bit, as if contemplating something, and then put his hands into his pockets. "But if we hadn't got the statue then on Friday what would you do about Professor Bauer?"

"Well, we – What?" Haley exclaimed. She stared wide-eyed at Nathan, who seemed more certain of himself by her reaction.

"The statue's a fake, isn't it?" He said it more as a statement than a question. Haley opened her mouth to protest, but Nathan interrupted her, "Don't say anything; just nod or shake your head."

Haley nodded her head sadly, and he smiled.

"Who made it?"

"My grandfather."

"Who posed for it?"

"My grandmother." It was Haley's turn to ask the questions now and a thousand began to whirl through her head. The first which popped out of her mouth was, "Since when have you known?"

"The day you asked me to help you."

She knew that her next question should be, 'How did you know?', but there was another question which was louder in her head. "But – then why did you help me?"

Nathan paused for moment, seeming more unsure of himself than he had before; but then he looked at Haley again and moved forward and kissed her.

This kiss was much softer than their first; his lips barely brushing against hers, gently tugging on her upper lip before he moved away, but for Haley it was just as powerful. The only reason she didn't faint this time was because her back was leaning against the cupboard wall.

Her eyes fluttered open and she met Nathan's gaze, almost unbelievingly. "Oh," she whispered. Nathan kept looking at her and she realized her was waiting for her to speak. How he expected her to form words, let alone sentences, she didn't know. "Will you explain it to me again?"

Nathan grinned and happily complied.


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

Haley and Nathan soon discovered that there was plenty of room for two people in the cupboard. All that was required was the proper seating arrangement.

Haley shifted in her seat on Nathan's lap and smiled at him, "You know suddenly there seems to be a lot of space in here."

"Yeah, loads," Nathan mumbled against her lips before covering them with his own. He brought her even closer to him by bringing his hands down from her face to rest on her lower back. Haley started to play with Nathan's hair, her hands trailing down to his neck. "Ah!" Nathan suddenly yelled, and broke away.

"What's wrong?" Haley asked, worried.

"Cold-cold."

Now, Haley was confused. She thought she had accidentally bitten him or something. "What's cold?" Nathan grimaced, and moved one of Haley's hands from his neck. They both looked at the object on it, and frowned. "Oh. I forgot about that."

"Yeah, me too."

Haley turned the diamond on her engagement ring the other way round so the ring just looked like a normal ring. Except that it was on her engagement finger. Haley worried that this would cause an awkward situation with Nathan, and was about to remind him that she didn't have feelings for Chris, but it turned out she didn't have to.

"May I kiss the bride?"

Haley grinned. "Please do."

Nathan and Haley continued kissing for a while longer, until the huge diamond on the ring scraped Nathan's neck. After apologizing and kissing it better, Haley got up to put the ring in her bucket, which was in the bag containing her change of outfit. When Haley left his lap, Nathan checked his watch and saw it was time for him to go out again. He stood up and told Haley so. "I won't be long."

Haley nodded.

Nathan kissed her quickly, before going out of the cupboard. He made his way to the rope he would have to step over, but failed to see Haley also leaving the cupboard to watch him.

Nathan walked over the rope, and Haley hid behind the pillar beside it. He moved just a little closer in before taking the boomerang out of his jacket. Nathan carefully threw the boomerang, and this time he was successful on the first try. The alarm went off a second before the boomerang came back to Nathan. He caught it in both hands, hopped over the rope and ran back into the cupboard. Once inside he noticed Haley was missing. He ran back out, saw her standing behind the pillar, and pulled her back inside.

"I told you to wait here," Nathan said as he maneuvered them into the hidden part of the cupboard.

"No, you didn't."

"Yes, I –" Nathan stopped as he realized that he hadn't. "Well, I told you last time."

"But I wanted to see you," Haley told him, only speaking slightly louder than a whisper so that he could hear her above the blaring alarm bells.

"It was dangerous; don't do something like that again," Nathan warned, but Haley kept smiling.

"You were worried about me."

Nathan tried to just shrug it off. "Well, if they had found you then they would have ended up finding me too, so it's not that important."

Haley smirked at him, "Okay." Then she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You know, I think there's a way we can block the sound of the alarm out."

"Yeah, how's that?"

"Like this." Haley stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the mouth, making Nathan forget they were in a cupboard on a very dangerous heist, let alone that there was a very loud alarm going off.

"Hmm," he murmured when she broke away. "That is very effective."

And they resumed kissing, blissfully unaware of the complete chaos the museum guards and Tree Hill Police were in, now that nothing had been stolen this second time too. However, even if they hadn't been kissing, Nathan and Haley would not have been able to hear the telephone ring in the guard's room, and the conversation that followed it.

"Hello?" Mr. Salamone, the head guard answered. "Mr. Mayor!" he exclaimed. "Yes, sir, I know it's loud…Nothing was taken sir…No, I didn't build the alarm…Yes, sir…yes, of course, sir." The Mayor promptly slammed the phone in his ear, and Mr. Salamone realized the best way to end any further problems and give himself a peaceful night's watch. He unlocked the little safe and switched the alarm off. This time he did not reset it.


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

"No way!"

"Haley –"

"Just because I like you does not mean I'm going to let you watch me change into this stupid cleaners outfit. That's so presumptuous of you! I –"

"Haley, the outfit goes on over your clothes!"

"It – really?"

"Yes," Nathan nodded. "You don't have to take anything off. Not that I would mind, but you seem to have a serious objection to that."

Haley rolled her eyes at Nathan and started to take her clothes out of the bag, before noticing that Nathan was grinning down at her. "What?"

"You said you like me," he said, grinning wider.

Haley blushed furiously as she realized he was right. "Well – I –" she stuttered, "well, clearly all the kissing back must have shown that I wasn't repulsed by you, but –"

Nathan cut Haley off, by leaning down to kiss her softly. "I like you too," he whispered.

Now, it was Haley's turn to grin. Nathan grinned back, and as the ridiculousness of their situation hit her, Haley let out a small giggle.

"So," Nathan began, fingering the strap of Haley's dress, "need any help?"

Haley slapped his shoulder. "No! Now, turn around so I can change."

"What? But, you're putting it on over your clothes, why do I need to turn around?" Nathan protested.

"Because I asked you to," she said simply. Nathan turned around, as instructed, and soon Haley had finished. "Okay, I'm ready."

"Got the rest of your stuff?"

Haley looked down at her bucket, which contained her cleaning equipment, as well as her engagement ring, and nodded.

Nathan checked his watch before saying, "Okay, then it's time to go."

He and Haley both walked quietly out of the cupboard. However, instead of going towards the rope, they went in the opposite direction, to the board of keys. Nathan replaced the key to the cupboard on its hook, as Haley noticed something on the floor. "Look!" she told him. "Someone's left their drink here."

Nathan picked up the bottle of beer and observed it. "Hmm, this is a good brand. And there's quite a bit left in it."

"This is no time to be drinking!"

"Actually, I've got a better idea." Nathan led the way over the rope, and to the centre of the main room. Haley followed him. Even though she could see that the lasers were off she still felt nervous, and so did Nathan.

Tentatively Nathan reached his hand in towards the Venus. When nothing happened he reached further in and picked up the sculpture. He then replaced it on the stand with the beer bottle. Nathan didn't have to look to know that Haley was now frowning at him. He turned around and shrugged as if to say, 'What?'

She tiptoed up to him and whispered, "Don't leave that there."

"It's funny. Besides, it's more noticeable if nothing is there than if something is there."

"The Chellini Venus looks nothing like a beer bottle."

"Not from far away." Sensing Haley was about to continue her protest Nathan changed the subject. "The cleaners will be here in about ten minutes; do you remember where you have to hide until then?"

Haley nodded. Just in front of the roped off area, there was an old fireplace with a screen in front of it. There was space in there for someone her size, and the pillars on either side would also hide her from view.

"Then when they come, you have to join them. Some of the guards will come out a bit after that to check that they're working. As soon as they notice the Venus is gone scrub your way to the guards' room."

"Okay," Haley nodded again, "Wait – _to_ the guards' room?"

"When they realize that the Venus is missing, there'll be guards everywhere – except the guards' room. And hang on to your bucket," Nathan added, as he wrapped the Chellini Venus in the large paper bag Haley had carried her things in, and put it inside her bucket.

"And you'll meet me there?" Haley asked.

"Yeah."

Nathan started walking away and Haley turned around to go to her hiding place, but she hadn't gone far before Nathan called her. "Yes?"

"I almost forgot something," he said, before kissing her and going on his way.

The cleaners turned up exactly on time (although Haley couldn't tell since she wasn't wearing a watch). They came in through the back entrance, and as soon as Haley could see them she bent her head a little lower down behind the screen so she wouldn't be visible to them. They didn't speak to each other, concentrating only on their work so Haley saw it would be easy for her to blend in. As they began to come up her way she crept out the side from behind the screen, and started polishing the base of the pillar nearest to her.

About five minutes later, by which time Haley was really getting into the task, a few guards sauntered into the room, sleepily observing the cleaners at work. One of the guards sat down on the bottom of the steps leading to the first floor and started telling the woman who was cleaning the hand rail all the troubles of the night. Tim sat down next to him, and nodded along at all the right places in the story. When he got bored of the story – since it had been discussed many times in the guards' room – Tim stood up and walked around the room. He came to a stop in the centre of the room, where the main attraction was on display. He just glanced over it, but something registered in the back of his mind so he looked at it again. Tim nearly fell over backwards with what he saw. That was his beer bottle!

………

Haley looked up from the ornament she was cleaning, and saw that it seemed like all the guards had now been alerted of the theft. Keeping her bucket close, she made her way out of the main room, cleaning things all the time, and towards the guards' room. When she got there she found the door was slightly open. Glancing back behind her, Haley quickly cleaned the doorknob and opened the door wide.

Haley gasped when she saw that there was a guard sitting in there, reading the newspaper. As he started to lift his head, she turned and was about to run but she heard his chair scrape backwards and he came after her. She hadn't time to go anywhere. He clapped his hand over his mouth and pulled her back inside the guard room, kicking the door closed behind her. Haley was ready to scream the moment he moved his hand off her mouth – she wasn't sure why, since she was the one not supposed to be there – but was surprised when he replaced his hand with his mouth. Haley immediately relaxed and opened her eyes to stare into the bright blue ones before her. Nathan!

"You have it?" he asked.

"Yeah," Haley nodded, and gestured to the full bucket still clutched in her hand.

"Well, then, let's go." Nathan took the bucket in one of his hands, put Haley's hand in the other and led her out the fire escape.

**A/N:** I just finished writing this story today: there are a few more chapters to be uploaded, and then it's the end! I'm sorry - I didn't realize until I finished that last chapter this morning. So, this is your warning. 


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

"Exactly what happened last night, Jimmy?"

"There were reports that the alarm went off twice –"

"What do you have to say to the culprit?"

"Is an investigation underway?"

"Are there any leads?"

"Gentlemen, gentlemen," Jimmy James finally broke through the voices of all the reporters who were now crowded in his living room, "it's too early for me to have any real information for you regarding the investigation. As far as how the Chellini Venus was stolen, Mr. Nye here, from the museum will be able to explain more fully."

The reporters then proceeded to talk all at once.

Upstairs in the James mansion, Haley James rolled over in her bed, completely unaware of the commotion going on just below her. Having done what she did last night, had she been thinking about the theft she would have guessed that her father was being ambushed by hundreds of reporters. However, her mind was on a much pleasanter topic.

The phone rang and Haley reached over to her bedside table to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hey."

Haley grinned when she recognized the voice. Trying to sound nonchalant she asked, "Who is this?"

"Nathan," he smirked.

"Hmm…I'm not sure I know a Nathan," Haley smiled, twirling the cord with her finger.

"Really? Then I guess the beautiful woman in bed with me right now will be of no concern to you," he said to shock her. It worked.

Haley sat up with a start in her bed. "What!"

Nathan grinned. "Relax. I'm talking about the Venus. She's right here."

"Oh, I see," she lied back down, "I knew that."

"Yeah, I'm sure you did," Nathan laughed. "Maybe next time you shouldn't pretend not to know me."

"Point taken. So, why did you call? Not that I'm not happy you did," she quickly added.

"Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to meet me for lunch today at the Plaza. We have a lot to talk about."

"You're right," she grinned into the phone. "Shall I come around one-thirty?"

"Erm, I think two would be better for me."

"Okay, then. Two o'clock it is," Haley said happily.

"I'll see you at two then."

……………

Nathan tapped the table impatiently. The reason he had asked Haley to come a little later was because he had something to take care of before that, but now that was getting late which meant he'd have to keep Haley waiting. Finally, the man he was expecting walked into the Plaza restaurant and came up to Nathan's table.

"Mr. Scott," he said as he sat down.

"Mr. Keller."

"Sorry for the late arrival, but I got held up at the office," Chris explained.

"It's no problem, but I have to meet someone else so we better get this done soon."

Chris nodded. "I must say I was quite surprised when you asked me to meet you today, especially after your brother told me he couldn't help me."

"Lucas doesn't know about this; you understand that no one can know?"

"Of course," Chris nodded. "The Venus –" he stopped when he received a look from Nathan, "Ahem, the item," he began again more softly, "is too high-profile right now. But are you so sure that you can get me the statue? It only went missing yesterday."

Nathan nodded. "I can. But first I have to make sure that you realize if it came to your possession you could never show it to anyone, not even your friends."

"That's fine; I only want it for myself."

"And of course you can't see any of the James'."

"Well," Chris faltered, "I sort of know the daughter, Haley James."

"Really?" Nathan asked, feigning only mild interest.

"Actually, we're engaged, but you're right, I can't see her when I have the Ve - the item."

"Exactly."

"I'm leaving to go back to New York tomorrow evening. Will you be able to give it to me by then?"

"I have a few arrangements to make. But it should be possible."

"Right," Chris nodded.

A/N: I know the ending of this chapter may seem a little confusing - at least, when I re-read it I thought Nathan and Chris' conversation seemed somewhat confusing if you didn't know the whole story. Anyway, it will be explained in the next chapter, which will be uploaded tomorrow.


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

Haley entered the Plaza and headed straight towards the restaurant. Just as she was about to go inside, she recognized the man leaving. "Chris?"

Chris looked up and his eyes widened when he saw Haley. Of all the luck! He pretended not to have heard her (although it wasn't very effective since he had already met her gaze) and walked straight ahead.

"Chris, I have to speak to you," Haley said, taking out the box with the engagement ring inside it, but he kept walking ahead. "Chris!" she repeated holding the box in front of him, but he moved to the other side of her. When she moved to stand in his way, he quickly went the other way and ran into the lobby and then out the main doors.

Haley stared after him incredulously for a few moments before going inside the restaurant. She sat down at the table where Nathan was waiting and after they kissed hello, she started to tell him about the encounter she had just had. "It was the funniest thing, really. I was only trying to give him back his ring," Haley said at the end of her story.

Nathan nodded, as if he hadn't seen the whole thing through the glass doors.

"So," Haley said, "what's the first thing that you want to talk about?"

"You remember last night when I was taking you home, we were discussing what to do with the statue?"

"Yeah. I mean, I definitely can't keep it, and it's dangerous for you to keep it with you too."

Nathan nodded. "I know someone who wants it."

"Everyone's always wanted it; Daddy would just never sell it."

"Yes, but this person still wants it now, even though the police are after it."

"Really?" Haley asked. "And they know? I mean, that no one else can know they have it."

"Yeah."

"Well…that sounds like one of the best ways to get rid of it."

"That's what I thought too," Nathan agreed. "But this person is leaving Tree Hill tomorrow, so I'll have to get it to them by then."

"That's fine."

"But what about your Dad?"

"He'll miss it, but after all the stress this whole thing has caused him, I think he'll be glad."

"Well, then, I guess it's settled."

"How did you meet him? Or is it a she?"

"It's a he," Nathan informed her, "I met him coming out of my brother's office."

"What does your brother do?" Haley asked, interested.

"He's an art dealer. He – I mean, the man who wants the Venus, - was there because he was hoping Lucas, my brother, could help him find it."

"Lucas doesn't know about it though, right?"

"Oh, no, of course not." Nathan shook his head.

Haley smiled. "You know, I never asked you – how did you know about it being a fake?"

"Well, at first it was a guess," Nathan began to explain. "That night you asked me I thought about all the reasons you might want to steal it, and I did some research on the exhibit – that seemed the most likely possibility. The next part I was lucky."

"How so?"

"I discovered a stain on part on my jacket and it was paint. Then, I realized it was from when my jacket brushed against the painting at your house. I went to Lucas' office – although he doesn't know – and used some of his equipment to test the paint. It was too new to have been an original."

"That's some handy detective work," Haley commented. "Have you thought about a change in career?"

"Are you asking me to get a job?"

"Well…I would never ask you to –"

"Because I've been thinking about it."

"Really?" Haley tried to stop the smile from spreading across her face, but couldn't.

"A little," Nathan admitted.

Haley leaned over and kissed Nathan happily. Then she picked up her menu and started leafing through it. As they thought over what to order, Haley suddenly said, "Maybe you should get a job as a guard."

"Why? Does the museum have an opening?" Nathan joked.

Haley giggled. "Possibly. And you do seem to know all the tricks. Plus, you looked hot in that uniform."

Nathan raised an eyebrow, as Haley blushed at her own words. "You should have told me that last night," he said.

"Why last night?"

"Well, if I knew that you thought that, I wouldn't have returned the uniform to the costume shop this morning."

**A/N:** I hope this cleared up any misunderstandings. If anything's still confusing for anyone, then mention it in your review and I'll reply to it. Oh, and I think someone asked what Nathan did with the statue after the stole it – well, he took it home (i.e. back to the Plaza). In his telephone conversation with Haley in the last chapter he said it was with him. The next chapter will be the end of this story!


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

Jimmy walked up and down his living room impatiently. Finally, he turned to his visitor and asked, "Well, what do you think?"

"It's a very good painting, Mr. James," Nathan said sincerely.

Jimmy nodded. "Better than the one you tried to steal from me?"

Nathan stared at the older man, speechless for a few moments. He started stuttering incoherently before Jimmy interrupted him.

"Haley didn't tell me anything about it. Well, she did tell me about the burglar in my house, but she neglected to mention who it was. But, it was you, wasn't it, Mr. Scott?"

Nathan again found himself unable to reply.

"It's of no importance to me," Jimmy continued. "I'm flattered, really. But, see, Haley seems to like you and well, I'm not sure how much I approve of my daughter seeing a man who steals things for the heck of it. I don't know you that well, but I have met your mother." Seeing the horrified look on Nathan's face, Jimmy added, "Don't worry, I'm not going to tell her. But she's a fine woman, which bodes well for my opinion of you. And, of course, you did help us with the Venus…"

"Mr. James," Nathan began, when Jimmy trailed off, "I already made a decision after we got the Venus that I wouldn't steal anymore."

"Really? Well, then, we have no need for this talk. Onto other matters. About this chap that you gave the Venus too…"

"Yes?"

"Well, how much is he going to pay for it?"

"Pay?" Nathan asked.

"Well, yes. We were very lucky to find someone who wanted it even when it was stolen property, and it will never bother us again, but he must be willing to pay a very high price for it. How much did you ask?"

"Oh," said Nathan, "I asked him how much I estimated the Venus to be worth."

"And what was your estimate?" Jimmy asked eagerly.

"Nothing."

Now, Jimmy was confused. "Nothing?"

"Nothing," Nathan repeated.

"B-but –" Jimmy began.

"As the sculpture isn't the real Chellini, its value is practically nothing."

"Yes, but he doesn't know that," Jimmy tried to reason. "This is no time for you to start being honest, Nathan."

Nathan smiled. "Mr. James, now that the Venus is gone all your troubles have gone away too. I think we should just be happy with that."

Jimmy frowned considerably, but grudgingly agreed.

"Of course, there is one thing…"

"What?"

"You know that you can no longer sell your paintings, don't you?"

"Well…" Jimmy tried to protest.

"Mr. James, I know this was the closest call you've ever had, but the threat hasn't disappeared. The next time you try to sell a painting there's no guarantee that the buyer won't have it authenticated, and then all your paintings will be tested," Nathan said sensibly. Jimmy looked only partially convinced. "It would put you and Haley," Nathan stressed, "in great danger. Again."

"I suppose you are right," Jimmy admitted. "But, I'm still going to paint in my study. I have too much talent to waste."

Nathan laughed. "I won't argue with that."

It was at this point that Haley came down the stairs and saw the two men conversing happily in the living room. "Hi…" she walked inside.

"Hello, dear," Jimmy came up to her. "Are you all packed?" She nodded. "I'll go get one of the servants to bring your bags down, then." Jimmy departed the room, leaving Haley and Nathan there alone.

"What were you talking about?" Haley asked.

"Just…stuff," Nathan answered.

"Stuff?" Haley raised her eyebrows.

Nathan smiled. "Your father agreed to stop selling his paintings."

Haley ran up to Nathan excitedly and kissed him. "That's so great! Are you sure you have him convinced?"

Nathan shrugged. "About 98. But he says he's still going to paint for himself."

Haley rolled her eyes. "Well, I'll see if I can try to persuade him to switch to originals when we get back."

Nathan laughed. "Yeah, okay. Hey…you look nice," he took in the pretty summer dress she was wearing.

"Thank you. This vacation thing was a really good idea."

"I thought so too, since the most quality time we've spent together was in a cupboard."

Haley giggled, and kissed Nathan again. They both started to get into the kiss, but were then rudely interrupted. "Can you please do that on your vacation? Or at least when I'm not nearby," Jimmy pleaded, covering his eyes with his hand.

Haley blushed. "Sorry," Nathan muttered.

"All your bags are in the car now," Jimmy informed them.

"I guess we should be leaving then," Nathan said.

Haley went over to her father and kissed him on the cheek. "Bye, Daddy. See you in a couple of days."

"Bye, sweetheart. Have fun – but not too much."

"See you, Mr. James."

"Bye, Nathan," the two shook hands before Nathan followed Haley out of the house and towards his car.

Haley took the brochure out of her handbag, and started flipping through it. "It says here that the place is supposed to be really romantic," Haley told Nathan as they walked down the long driveway.

"Yeah, I thought you might like that," Nathan opened the passenger side door for her.

"Why, Nathan, are you trying to seduce me?" Haley said, only half-teasing.

Nathan smirked. "Now, you know that's not what this vacation is about. But," he said as he kissed her cheek, "I packed the guard's uniform – just in case."

Jimmy waved goodbye to the couple as they got into the car. He was about to close the main door when he saw another car come inside the driveway. A man got out of it, and Jimmy recognized the man as his old acquaintance, Mr. Hammond. Jimmy smiled as John Hammond walked up the front steps.

"Hello, John."

"Jimmy! I'm so sorry about this terrible news regarding the Venus. You must be devastated."

"Yes, it's very sad. But, you didn't drive all the way out here just to give your condolences, did you John?"

"Why, Jimmy," John said, "you called me!"

"I did?"

"Have you forgotten? It was, let me see…only just after the Venus went on display at the museum. You said you had a new painting for me to look at."

"Oh, yes, I remember now," Jimmy said tentatively.

"I'll tell you now, Jimmy, that if it's a Van Gough, I'm interested in buying."

Jimmy cringed. It had been a Van Gough that he'd called him about. "Well, you see, John -"

"Someone else has already looked at it? I'll pay you triple!" John announced.

Jimmy thought carefully. He looked over at the driveway, where Haley and Nathan were reversing. He smiled at them, and Haley waved. Jimmy waited until their car had gone, before turning back to John. "Please, come inside. I think you'll like this painting."

"Splendid!"

The end.

**A/N:** **Well, that's the end of this fic! I can't believe I've written my third OTH fic so soon! I hope you guys enjoyed it, and maybe it even inspired you to watch the movie! I had so much fun writing it, and I loved reading all your reviews. Just because this is the last chapter, don't forget to leave a message at the end of this one! As for the future, I've already started writing my next fic, which is just a short rewrite of season one's auction episode and is a Naley/Jeyton fluff-filled affair. After that, I have another AU fic in the line-up. So, this is good-bye from me then – until next time! (Maybe I'll 'see' you again.)**


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